Remember Me
by RizzlesQueen1
Summary: Regina is a dedicated surgical intern at Lakeshore West hospital, but everything changes when Mr. Gold and Emma come into the ER one night. Regina begins to feel strange, like she's living in two different realities, and then it hits her; she is. Is the life she knows as Dr. Mills a reality, or is she still 16 and blocking out bad memories by making new ones?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfic that has more than one chapter so sorry if it sucks ass!**

**If it is _bolded and italicized _it is Regina's thoughts. **

It was 3:55am, and Regina had been at the hospital for over 24 hours. She was on the overnight, or infamous "Graveyard" shift, as all the doctors called it. It was the worst shift, only given to those who had either just started working, or fucked up something big time. Luckily for her, she had just started her internship 2 weeks ago, so she hadn't fucked up….yet, although she didn't have much time to do so anyways. Paperwork, post-ops, and minor procedures took up the majority of her days.

When she wasn't working, she was sleeping, and when she wasn't sleeping she was studying. It was exhausting, but worth it. Just think, in 5 years I'll be a fellow. She repeated this to herself as many times as she needed a day, and today, she needed it a lot. That was until her life changed forever. Right as she was getting ready to sign off on her last chart for her shift, a strange looking man covered in sweat and blood ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

"REGINA PLEASE HELP!" the dirty man cried out as she turned around. A look of pure shock crossed her features. How the hell did this man know her name? She went as Dr. Mills to patients…not as "Regina". In an instant she forgot about it as her brain processed the sight in front of her. He was covered in blood. It was literally everywhere.

"Sir you need to come with me, we need to get you into a bed immediately." Regina tried to remain calm, but she had never seen someone with this much blood. Where the hell was it all coming from? She began to lead him to one of the exam rooms when he stopped her.

"NO! I don't need the help, its em-my…daughter! She was shot, please help!" The young man look eerily calm. He seemed to be more angry than worried, but who was she to judge.

"Where is she?!" This time, Regina didn't care if she sounded calm. She needed to find this girl.

"This way, please hurry!" The man huffed out the words before he ran off towards the front entrance. Without hesitating Regina followed, catching up to speed with the man easily. Thank god she was a runner, because this man was running full speed ahead…although she couldn't blame him. She noticed as they were running that he had a slight limp, and it was weird. Almost like she knew the man in a different life. They ran in silence until they got to a crowd.

"OUT OF THE WAY NOW!" Regina yelled out to all of the people, crowded around in a circle. They moved quickly and the young doctor's heart sank into her stomach when she saw the young blonde. She couldn't have been more than 25 years old. She was so small, but at the same time muscular. The type of person who you wouldn't expect to be able to throw a punch. Yet there she was, covered in her own blood and clutching at her abdomen. At the sight of all of this, Regina jumped into doctor mode. She shut off her emotions and got to work.

"Whats your name, hun?" she asked the blonde as she crouched down onto her knees to get a better look.

"Emma…" she paused to take a deep breath, "Emma Swan."

"Ok Emma, can you tell me what happened to you?" Regina asked as she summoned over a nurse to get her a gurney. Emma cringed at the question, so instead of prying Regina applied pressure to Emma's abdomen while she waited. Within seconds the gurney was at her side, and the nurse was helping her place Emma onto it.

"Please help me" she whispered out with pleading eyes. She winced when she was lifted up, "Please." Her eyes said it all, Regina knew something wasn't right here and she was determined to figure out what was up.

Regina shivered as she thought of all the possibilities. She applied more pressure to the wound, but noticed that the blonde was getting paler, and was having trouble breathing.

"GET THE O2 IN BAY 403 READY NOW, AND PAGE OWEN HUNT." Regina yelled out to the nurses station as herself, the nurse, and Emma's father travelled by.

"Hunt isn't on call, Kepner is." the nurse at the desk replied.

"WELL THEN FUCKING PAGE KEPNER!" The young brunette called out. She couldn't handle this on her own, and she was determined to keep the blonde alive. Even if she was sleep deprived and way out of her depths. She looked down to the blonde and noticed she was starting to lose consciousness.

"Emma don't you dare pass out on me." She tapped the woman's shoulder and started to panic, "Emma…" nothing.

"Get a crash cart ready! And put her father in the waiting room!" Regina cried out, panic evident in her voice. When she looked back she saw the nurse from the desk escorting Emma's father to the waiting room. She reached out across the blondes neck to find a pulse, but couldn't get one.

"CODE BLUE!" she looked over to the nurse who was helping her, _**i'll have to thank her later she is saving my ass right now**,_ and shot her a questioning look. The nurse understood immediately.

"Intubate her, and then attach a 12 lead and see if she has a shockable rhythm, I'll do CPR, but you'll want some more hands in there." the nurse whispered to Regina.

"Thank you" She mouthed back as they wheeled the gurney into the exam room. She quickly locked the gurney in place and pressed the blue button on the wall which alerted the whole floor that they needed help with a code blue patient. She found an intubation kit and got to work quickly, intubating the small blonde within seconds.

"Not bad for an intern." The nurse winked at Regina as she continued compressions. Another intern named Kathryn ran into the room.

"Kepner's been paged, she's on her way. What can I do to help?" she asked.

"Take over respirations, I'm getting a 12 lead on her." Regina replied as she began to cut open the blondes shirt.

She had never been nervous about cutting people's clothing off. It was life of death, and she was pretty sure that 99.9% of the population would rather be breathing and alive than have their shirt or pants in good condition. This though…this was different. It wasn't like she thought the blonde would miss her shirt, or her bra it just felt…different. Like she was uncovering something that she wasn't ready to get involved in. She tried her best to hide her emotions as Emma's shirt and bra were cut open, revealing everything. Regina started placed the electrodes for the monitor, until she saw the deep purple bruising all around the woman's ribcage and the bullet hole wound on the woman's lower abdomen. She stared at it all, mesmerized by the colours, and by the various reasoning that could be behind it all.

She resumed placing the electrodes onto the blondes chest. When she had placed the last electrode and hooked up the monitor she took a second to read it, praying she had a shockable rhythm. Ventricular fibrillation, shockable. She sprang into action.

"GET THE DEFIBRILLATOR AND CHARGE TO 300!" she called out, to no one in specific, but being in a hospital she knew someone was there. Seconds later the defib paddles were passed to her, charged and ready to go.

"EVERYBODY CLEAR!" she yelled, this time to everyone in the room. If anyone was touching Emma when she shocked her…well lets just say that she'd have more than one patient. When she saw everyone was standing back, she reached across the blondes chest and administered the shock. It sent the blonde's body upwards with electricity, hopefully stopping the woman's heart so it would re-start at a normal rhythm.

Regina looked to the monitor and saw a normal sinus rhythm return. She sighed in relief and placed the paddles back into the hands of whoever had handed them to her. She took a quick pulse and was advised, by the nurse of course, to take out the incubation tube, as Emma was regaining consciousness. Regina did as she was told, and right when she was finished taking the tube out, April Kepner (the trauma surgeon on call) ran into the room.

"Whats going on give me a sit rep."

"Emma Swan, came in with a GSW to the lower abdomen. Coded, down for approx. 3 minutes but revived on 1 shock at 300 jewels." she sighed, but to her surprise April was waiting for more.

"Thats all."

"Thats all?" April looked mad. **_Fucking hell I just saved her life and you're mad of course._**

"Thats everything I know. Her Dad's in the waiting room." Regina took off her gloves and threw them in the garbage. She started to walk out when April stopped her.

"Mills! Where do you think you're going?" she asked, her voice stern.

"To change? I finished over 30 minutes ago."

"I want you back here in-" she looked to the clock "-9 hours. I'm taking her into surgery but you're going to monitor her afterwards. Is that clear?"

The brunette sighed. Of course she would be stuck babysitting Kepner's post ops instead of scrubbing in on surgeries. She was pissed…but at the same time she had this weird need to get to know the blonde who's life was in her hands just minutes earlier. She felt oddly connected to the woman…just like the man who had brought her in. It was like she knew them from somewhere.

"Yeah thats fine. Page me if you need anything, I'm just going to crash in an on call room." the intern replied and walked away towards the locker room. It was moments like this where she was happy that she always had a pair of pyjamas at the hospital, just incase. It was going to be a long day…but somehow, Emma was worth it.

**Let me know what you think!:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is really short sorry, but I'm working on a new chapter today :)**

It was becoming a routine that both Emma and Regina were getting used to. Regina would come in, check Emma's incision sight for infection, and try to get Emma to talk. Emma would nod her head and sigh, and Regina would walk out. This happened for weeks, at least twice a day. To be honest, Regina was getting sick of it. She would hear Emma talking to the other doctors and nurses, but when it came to Regina she shut up. What the hell was her problem? The brunette sighed and slouched lower into her chair, a small headache forming in the front of her skull just at the thought of it all.

"Coffee?". Regina looked up to see her friend, and fellow intern Kathryn, holding out a cup for her.

"Bless your fucking life." Regina smiled and grabbed the coffee.

She leaned back into her chair as Kathryn sat down across from her. They technically weren't supposed to be sitting at the nurses station, but no one was going to fuck with them, especially since they were both sleep deprived and moody. Regina took a sip of the hot beverage before saying anything to Kathryn.

"So, how's your day been?" She smiled and took another sip of coffee, fuelling her body with the needed energy boost. She was trying to stall Kathryn before her friend figured out that something was wrong.

"Ok Regina cut the shit. Why have you been so moody lately? You've been ignoring me like crazy, and when I try to be nice you yell." Kathryn glared at her friend. Regina really hadn't been the nicest person lately, and Kathryn was definitely going to let her know how she felt.

"What are you talking about?" Regina shot back quietly. She was offended that her friend would say something like that about her, although she knew it was the truth. Trying not to cause a scene she lowered her head and leaned closer to Kathryn.

"Look, I don't know what's going on in your life to make you so oblivious to your friends feelings lately, but it's getting annoying. This has been going on for weeks!" Kathryn said calmly, trying to sound as nice as she possibly could for the sake of anyone listening in.

Regina thought for a moment while she sipped her coffee. She had been distant lately, but it was because she felt so confused. It was like she was in two different worlds at the same time. But she wasn't about to tell Kathryn that unless she wanted to be committed to psych. She decided instead to tell her half of the truth.

"It's just one of my patients. Room 404. She talks to all of her other doctors and nurses, except for me. What did I do to her to make her hate me?! I need to know how she's feeling to give her the best care possible, but she won't let me!" Regina threw her hands up dramatically, mentally thanking herself for putting her coffee on the desk in front of her before speaking.

Kathryn sighed, glad to finally know what was going on inside Regina's head. She paused for a second before deciding to try and fix the situation.

"Cmon." She stood up and grabbed Regina's hand.

"What the hell..?" Regina replied as she slowly stood up, not sure where her friend was leading her.

"Just trust me."

And with that they left the nurses station. Kathryn lead Regina all over the hospital (trying to throw her off). They visited the dialysis unit, radiology, cardiology, and even neurology, before Kathryn led her friend to the elevators. They went up 4 floors. Regina had no idea where they were headed, until she saw the familiar sign saying "404 EMMA S."  
She turned around to her friend, annoyed with her and herself. Kathryn shouldn't be butting into her cases like this, but Regina shouldn't be letting her emotions get a hold of her personal life.

"Kathryn no. She won't talk."

"Then prove it. Prove she won't talk. I wanna see, then I can laugh at you." she raised her eyebrow, knowing Regina could never turn down the opportunity to prove herself.

Kathryn had the privilege of knowing Regina's backstory, and from what she heard Regina didn't have it easy as a kid. Her mother constantly told her she wasn't good enough, and provoked her to prove herself daily. Knowing this, and knowing Regina could never back down, Kathryn walked away from Regina and head back downstairs to finish her coffee, leaving Regina alone in front of Emma's room. She felt guilty about it, but she knew that she needed her friend back to normal, and that Regina needed to feel normal again.

Regina was shocked at what just happened, but she couldn't settle and not prove Kathryn wrong. That was just too easy.

With a huff Regina walked into the room and plastered a fake smile on her face. To her surprise the small blonde returned the smile, and acknowledged the doctor.

"Hi."

A simple hi was all it took for Regina's heart to melt. She could feel tears of acceptance forming in her eyes, so she turned her face and walked towards Emma. She slowly looked towards Emma's abdomen, pretending to check her over, working up the courage to say something back.

"Hello."

Emma was just as shocked as Regina at the one word reply. She was expecting more of a 'It's so nice to hear your voice, how are you today? How did this happen to you? Why are there bruises all over your body? Were you abused?', but the simple "hello" was much better. She grinned at the brunette doctor, but her grin quickly faded and changed into panic when she looked up.

Her body tensed and Regina could feel tension in the air, like a sixth sense. Something or someone had just come into the room that didn't belong. She couldn't explain how she knew, she could just sense this other entity, whatever it was. She looked to the blonde for anything that indicated what they were both panicking about, and followed her eyes. Standing in the doorway was Emma's father. He was holding a tattered teddy bear and was glaring at Emma like she was a possession. It was freaking Regina out.

"Hi sir, can I help you?" Regina calmly asked the man. Trying not to look scared. To her surprise her voice came out confidently.

"Just visiting my..." There a was slight pause.

"Emma." He coughed and turned to face the brunette.

"And you too dearie. I can't forget about my favourite young Regina." The smile that was plastered on his face could have been lethal if she had looked at it for too long. Regina felt instant chills go up her spine, she felt afraid of the man, but something in her was telling her she didn't need to be &amp; that he wasn't powerful enough to take on the two of them together.

"Visiting hours are over, sorry." She said harshly, hoping he would get the point and leave. Of course, he didn't.  
He walked further into the small room and stopped right beside Emma's bed. The blonde physically reacted by tensing her body even more and squaring her jaw. But even though she was terrified she looked the man straight in the eyes. Feeling that same sense of confidence, knowing Regina was in the same room.

"I brought you you're favourite bear. Remember? You played in the basement a lot with it." He placed the tattered bear beside Emma, and then looked to Regina.

"But I'll leave you for now...since visiting hours are over." He smiled his creepy little grin again and walked to the door. He paused in the doorway and talked without looking back.

"Don't worry Regina...I'll bring your stuffed horse the next time I'm here again. Nice seeing you." And with that he walked out of the room.

Regina was overwhelmed with confusion and fear and too many emotions. When she was sure that the man was gone she sat on a chair beside Emma's bed without even thinking about it and rested her head in her hands. Flashbacks of a blonde and brunette playing with a bear and a horse in a cold basement zipped through her mind, but were quickly pushed aside. What the hell was happening to her? After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Emma spoke.

"It's going to be ok Regina. You'll be ok."

Regina's head snapped up at the voice coming from the small blonde. That was the most that the blonde had ever said to her. Ever. She tried to smile but she held tears of confusion in her eyes.

"What is wrong with me? What the hell is going on?" Her voice cracked.

"It'll make sense soon. You'll be ok." The blonde hushed the doctor trying to calm her, and her efforts worked. The brunette sighed and wiped away a couple of tears that had escaped. She stood up and squeezed the blondes arm, silently thanking her. When she squeezed it she felt an electric pulse go through her body. It felt so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. The two women stared at each other for the longest moment before Emma broke the silence once again.

"It'll make sense soon."

Regina felt safe with Emma, but knew she had to leave her side to go round on other patients. With a nod she walked out of the small hospital room and headed downstairs to find Kathryn before doing her rounds. One thing was for sure, she was going to need Emma Swan to figure out what the hell was wrong with her; but first, she needed to tell someone about it before she had a breakdown.


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again, ****_bold and italicized _****means its Regina's thoughts!:) **

**But just** _italicized like this _**means Regina's dream.**

**confusing as fuck I know**

**Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas on what you want to happen please do share!**

**Enjoy :)**

"Thats what happened?" Kathryn asked, kind of annoyed with how Regina had dumped this all on her. She was seriously contemplating on calling psych and having her friend committed.

"Kathryn I know it sounds crazy. Trust me, I know." Regina sighed and rubbed her head.

Not even coffee could fix this headache. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to tell Kathryn. Sure, it felt nice not having the daunting secret anymore…but maybe Kathryn wasn't the greatest person to tell. She should have told nurse white, or nurse Joan. Anyone but Kathryn. Her head began to throb more, if that was even possible.

"So…let me just get this straight. You think Emma's father isn't really her father, but he's her kidnapper. And you think you might have been kidnapped by him and brainwashed as a child because he and Emma look a little familiar to you?" Kathryn almost laughed. Almost.

She knew she should be supporting her friend no matter what, but really? This was just pure insanity. Why did Regina have to tell her? They were supposed to be learning about medicine, and treating patients. Not becoming them. What was the number for psych again..

"Kathryn.." Regina broke her from her thoughts.

"mmmhm?"

"Please don't tell anyone. I know I sound like a crazy person…hell I probably belong in psych. But you're my friend. Please just let me handle this on my own."

Kathryn was stunned, and annoyed. She'd had enough of this.

"Handle this on your own?" She began to raise her voice. "Regina you sound like a fucking nut case! If you wanted to handle this on your own then why the hell did you fucking tell me!" Now she was beginning to get angry, and Regina could tell.

"Kathryn-" She was cut off

"NO. Do not 'Kathryn' me. I'm trying to get through this internship, and you're making it fucking difficult. Until you're ready to have an adult conversation about something that doesn't involve your stupid little girl crush fantasy on your patient, let me know." She was done with this conversation, so with that she walked off, leaving Regina alone.

Regina sat down in the closest chair she could find in the nurses stations and let out a long sigh. She took a sip of her now cold coffee, and let her thoughts get the best of her. What the hell did I do to deserve this? She's my friend she's supposed to support me. I know I sound crazy but….she's my friend. And friends are supposed - Her thoughts were cut short by the sight of a man, limping his way towards the elevator doors. He was holding a stuffed horse in his arms, and Regina bet he was headed to the fourth floor, room 404. She stood up a walked briskly towards the man, and entered the small space of the elevator. She instantly felt claustrophobic.

"Sir, I already told you visiting hours were over."

She put her hand on her hip, once again finding herself trying to act confident and intimidating around the man. This time, she didn't do too well. Her voice scratched as she spoke.

"Regina, I know that they're over. You told me that an hour ago. I didn't come to see Emma…I came to see you." The man was calm, and surprisingly Regina found herself calming down.

The elevator doors closed and left the pair alone on the elevator. The situation felt familiar…her being confined to a small space with him. Wow…she really was going insane.

"Why? Why did you come to see me?" she forced herself to look at the man in the eyes. She might be a bit more calm, but she still felt intimidated by him.

Just as she looked over to him, the man reached across the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor. To her surprise, right when the elevator started moving he pressed the emergency stop button. The elevator shook and made some weird noises before stopping between floors. Of course when I engage the crazy man he stops the elevator and traps me. OF COURSE.

"Regina," the man paused for a long moment, as if he was contemplating something. "I'm going to tell you my name."

She looked confused. Why did that require them to stop the elevator? Yeah sure she was kinda surprised that she didn't already know his name, considering that she had met the man several times throughout the past coupe of weeks, but stopping the elevator to tell her? That was just weird.

"Ok…but why does that mean you have to stop the elevator?"

"Because after I tell you my name…I have to do something. Something that no one else will understand. But it will all make sense soon."

That was it, Regina was now in full panic mode. This fucker was going to murder her…or kidnap her. Or do something fucked up to her. She felt like she needed Emma by her side that instant.

"There are cameras in here, they'll know I'm missing and they'll look for me they'll find you and you'll go to jail."

Regina rambled on, hoping to stall the man and figure out a way to escape. She tried to thing logically, but all she could think of was Emma being by her side, and how that would help. She closed her eyes and kept talking, spewing words about how he would end up with the death sentence, and imagined the blonde poofing out of no where into the elevator and making her stronger and safe. For some reason she knew that if the blonde was here she could over-power this man.

She had stopped rambling and silence soon filled the air, but there was something else too. Electricity. It was like the electricity Regina had felt when she touched Emma's arm, but it was different at the same time. Weaker. Her thoughts were broken by the man's voice.

"My name, is Mr. Gold." the man said, and Regina could have sworn she was going to faint.

She knew that name. Flashbacks of a man and two girls popped into her head again, this time the girls had suitcases and were arriving at the doorstep of their new foster parents home. Mr, and Mrs. Gold. They were…happy. It was nothing like the flashback she had before. The electricity in the air grew stronger, like it was radiating from her body towards Gold's body. A tense moment passed before Regina finally spoke.

"I know you." Regina rasped out as she pushed the thoughts out of her head, "I know you and Emma." With that confession, the electricity grew even stronger, like she was willing it to bind Gold and keep her and Emma safe.

Regina forced open her eyes, and to her amazement Mr. Gold was dangling in mid air, bound by some force. She gasped and when she did he dropped to the ground. He slowly rose up and smiled his creepy grin at the doctor.

"Still got it in you I see." He widened his grin. "I guess I'll see you around, dearie.", and with that he was gone in a puff of black smoke, leaving Regina alone in the elevator with a stuffed animal horse. Regina was still in shock, and found herself shaking at what had just happened.

It was like something out of the movies, it couldn't have been real. Regina felt the electricity leave her body. It was almost like when he left he had sucked the air out of the small space, and Regina wanted out of there. How the hell did he do that? Was he some kind of magician? Was she hallucinating? Regina could feel her headache returning, but there was something more than that. Her forehead was burning. She ignored it, being her stubborn self, and scrambled to press the release emergency stop button on the elevator before Mr. Gold decided to return and probably kill her or something.

When the elevator came to a stop on the fourth floor, Regina grabbed the stuffed animal sprinted to room 404 where Emma was. She needed to tell the girl what had just happened, and figure out what to do. She got some concerned looks from the nurses as she ran past them, but she didn't care. She felt like she needed to see Emma and make sure the blonde was ok. But more than anything, Regina needed to be in the girl's presence…like it would somehow make everything better.

When she entered the room she discovered that Emma was sleeping. The sight made Regina's heart sink a bit. She really needed to talk to the girl, but she also knew that the blonde needed the rest to get better. She had been through several surgeries to repair the damage from the gun shot, and had even had work done on her tibia for multiple un-healed fractures. She had been through a lot in the past 4 weeks. Not wanting to wake the blonde, but also not wanting to leave her side, Regina decided to sit down in the chair next to Emma's bed. Regina sat down quietly and leaned her head back onto the back of the chair. She was exhausted, although she couldn't pin-point why. She had gotten a lot of rest the night before, and today was an easy day in the hospital. She was still on Kepner's post ops, but they had all been going well.

She lifted her head and looked at Emma for a brief moment before deciding to get some rest as well. The brunette could sleep in the chair beside Emma's bed and say she was monitoring the blonde's vitals all night for "practice" without anyone suspecting anything. The only problem was that it was only 11:00pm and she had rounds in an hour, but Regina decided that she could set an alarm for 11:50pm and go do her rounds before returning to Emma's side. Just the thought of leaving Emma's side worried Regina, but she knew she had to keep doing her job. That was what she was here for after all. She leaned her head back on the chair again with tired eyes. She had a feeling that tomorrow would be gruelling, and that she needed to be as close to the blonde as she could, while she was still able to. When she had finished setting her alarm, she closed her eyes and was soon finding herself drifting off.

_"Regina…hey Regina." Emma shook the brunettes arm, trying to quietly wake the girl up. It worked._

_"Huh…Emma..?" Regina managed to scratch out. Her throat hurt but she didn't know why. Actually…her whole body hurt. _

_She began to slowly open her eyes, still groggy from sleep. When she opened them she realized she wan't in the hospital room anymore. It looked like she was in a basement. Ignoring Emma, she tried to get up so she could look around, but when she did her right leg screamed in pain. She looked down to the leg that was demanding attention, and saw a purple and blue bruise forming. It took up a huge portion of her leg. When she reached out to touch it she noticed a small black cuff on her wrist. What the hell…Where the hell am I?_

_"Emma what happened…?" she sat back against the concrete wall and closed her eyes. She felt like an animal in a cage. The room they were in was small, like the concrete cages animals at the zoo are kept in. The only difference is that it had several doors, all leading to mysterious places._

_"Regina did he hit your head? Why don't you remember…Regina?" Emma started to panic. She knew Regina preffered to block out the bad things that happened, but this was weird, but she had never forgotten anything, she just blocked it out. She touched the girls arm and both of them felt that same electricity flow through their bodies. It was like they were a connected circuit. But unlike the last time they had touched, the electricity was very weak. It was alms unnoticeable. _

_"Who is "he"…what are you talking about?" Regina was confused. She opened her eyes and turned to the girl beside her._

_ When she turned over to the blonde she gasped. Emma looked so young, like she was only about 15, maybe 16. The blonde had a huge bruise under her right eye, and she was wearing a black cuff on her wrist too. Regina was starting to worry, who was this girl? She had responded to the name Emma…but this wasn't the 26 year old Emma that Regina knew from the hospital. How did this "Emma" know her name? Why the hell were they in this room together?_

_Trying to calm herself down Regina looked to her leg again. She had always found that the best way to distract herself was to figure out a puzzle, so her best bet right now was to figure out if she had a broken leg to not. She stared at the intricate bruise and ran her hand over the area. It hurt, but she could handle it. When she was finished examining her leg she looked down to her ankle which was swollen. She stared at it, until it dawned on her. She had gotten a tattoo of a crown on her right ankle when she was 20…but it wasn't there. She slowly looked up to Emma again with pure panic in her eyes. What the hell was happening? She wasn't in her own body…or if she was it was a much younger version of her body. Emma sensed that Regina needed to be distracted, so she tried to distract the best way she could._

_"Regina... Let me see your head, please. Please tell me you're ok…tell me this is a joke! I'll laugh and everything!" Emma pleaded with the girl, even giving her a fake smile._

_Regina just nodded, in pure shock, and sat forward...trying not to put any weight on her right leg. This was all so confusing. Was she dreaming? No, this all felt way too real to be a dream. She looked at the bruise again as Emma examined her head, and silently thanked God that she still had her medical knowledge, despite her being stuck in different body. Touching the leg confirmed what she was thinking, it was broken. Well…she was 98% sure it was broken. She would need to tell Emma to find something sturdy so she could at lest splint it._

_ Emma was freaking out on the inside as she examined her friend's skull. What if he had done something to her? She knew the cuffs on their wrists made it so they couldn't use their magic, but it didn't mean that he couldn't use it against them. What if he had taken away the girl's memories? Emma couldn't survive knowing that Regina was experiencing everything that they had already been through all over again. As she felt her friend's head for anything that could tell her what was wrong, she thought of all the things that Gold could have done to Regina. He could have taken her memories, he could have hit her in the head so hard she lost them, he could have cast a curse…too many options. She was almost finished examining the brunettes head, when she felt the girl cringe._

_"Does that hurt?" she asked, hoping that she found what was causing the issue, but sad that she had caused her friend pain._

_ She hated causing anyone pain…but causing Regina pain was 10 time worse. It was like they were connected. When Regina felt pain, Emma felt pain. When Regina was tired, Emma was tired. But this was different. Emma didn't feel any pain when Regina cringed, and she didn't feel any pain in her leg. Emma remembered when Gold had broken her leg, using magic to knock a bookshelf onto it. She could hear Regina screaming in the basement, and she could feel the saddens that her friend was feeling. It was a mess. But Emma did not like this feeling of being disconnected from the girl. She was going to figure out what Gold had done to her if it was the last thing she did._

_"No…I don't know…. Yeah…I guess. Its burning. Its like my forehead is burning…" Regina trailed off, realizing it was the same pain that she had gotten right after Gold had left her in the elevator. _

_"Let me find a cold cloth, maybe that will help." Emma broke Regina out of her haze and scurried to find anything that could be used to help the girl._

_As Emma exited the room through one of the many mysterious doors, Regina lifted her hand to touch her forehead, but just as she touched the spot that was burning, her hand was shocked by an electrical current. _

_"Ow fuck…" Regina sighed and she looked at her hand, now worried she had hurt it as well. _

_To her surprise the hand seemed fine, and the burning was dissipating. She was happy that it was going away, but after a few moments she started to feel numb. Her eyes started to feel heavy and she could feel her heart rate slowing. She began to feel extremely tired, but she also became worried. What if she had done something to make the situation even worse? A moment passed and Regina didn't care about anything anymore…she just wanted to sleep. The last thing she could remember before closing her eyes was Emma running over to her and yelling her name. Then it was all black._

**thanks for reading! I'll have chapter 4 up either tonight or tomorrow!:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is one of my favourites, but its really confusing! The whole premise of it is that Dr. Mills and Emma are the only two people who can see whats wrong with her leg (Like august's leg in season 1 or 2 or whatever the fuck it was). **

**The second half (when regina wakes up) is supposed to be like Regina thinks she's in 'Dr. Mills' world, but is actually in 16 year old Regina world. **

**I PROMISE IN CHAPTER 5 IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE! SO KEEP READING BECAUSE I KNOW ITS ALL FUCKING WEIRD RIGHT NOW.**

Regina woke up in a cold sweat. She was in the hospital room in the chair beside Emma's bed, and was confused as hell. Her head was pounding and she felt like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Being the paranoid type of person she was, she quickly rolled up the bottom of her pants to expose her right leg, but what she saw made her both horrified and relieved. Her tattoo was there once again, telling her that she was in her body, but her ankle looked swollen. She lifted the pant leg higher and gasped at the purple bruise that took over the skin on her leg.

How? It was just a dream…so why was her leg now screaming in pain at her? Regina chocked back tears as she rolled back down her pant leg and reached over to check the time on her phone. She needed to feel normal again, because right now she definitely didn't feel normal. She felt like everything was a blur, and she couldn't distinguish between reality and dream. When she looked at the time on her phone she was once again, surprised. It was only 11:15pm. How was that even possible? It was like she was in that dream or alternate universe or whatever it was, for exactly the amount of time that she had actually been there. Didn't dreams only last 3 seconds and just seem like they lasted hours?

All she knew was that her head was pounding, and her leg was probably broken. She didn't even want to think of a logical explanation for all of it, so instead she just accepted it. She stood herself up, balancing on her left leg, keeping her right leg far away from the ground, and hopped towards the door. The doctor was halfway there when she fell, and crashed to the floor.

"Oh my FUCK. Ow my leg…ahhh fucking shit." Regina cursed under her breath, not wanting to wake up Emma, but it was too late. Emma was out of her bed and beside Regina within a matter of seconds.

"Regina are you ok?" She sounded concerned.

Emma looked to Regina's leg and gasped at the black and blue bruise that enveloped the skin. She offered her hand to the brunette, knowing that she needed help getting up. Regina let the blonde help her up, it felt natural, helping each other. Like it was something they had always done.

"I'm fine. I just…did something to my leg. It's fine though, I'm fine. You should lay back down." Regina hoped the blonde would take her advice and lay down, because if she didn't and April Kepner happened to walk into the room…well Regina was screwed.

To her luck, Emma nodded and returned to her bed, laying back slowly so she didn't rip open any of her incisions. Her leg was now in a brace, and technically she wasn't supposed to be walking around, but she didn't care. Regina was hurt and that's all that mattered to her. Without even thinking about it, Emma pressed the call button for the nurse, not for herself, but for Regina. The brunette looked up when she heard the call button being pressed. Emma really cared for her that much? In reality it wasn't that big of a deal, most people would help in a situation like this, but Regina couldn't help but feel special. A silence filled moment later, a nurse ran into the room.

"Whats wrong?" She looked from Emma to Regina, who was now leaning on the wall now with her right leg bent at the knee and suspended in mid air. A confused look crossed the nurses face.

"Dr. Mills, if a patient needs help you help. You don't stand against a wall and watch them suffer. Just wait until Dr. Kepner finds out about this, you're abusing your power here." The nurse spat the words out and hurried to Emma's side. Emma, to the nurses surprise, was smiling at Regina. She broke the eye contact with the brunette and looked towards the nurse.

"Nurse.." she looked at her name tag, "Mary Margaret." Emma smiled before continuing, silently apologizing for not knowing the nurses name.

"I'm not the one in need of assistance… is. She hurt her leg."

Nurse Mary Margaret looked over to Regina slowly, feeling bad for yelling at the young intern, but also feeling like this was a prank or something. Dr. Mills never complained. She was the type of woman that if she were having a heart attack, no one would know because she wouldn't complain. She walked over to Regina and silently asked if she could examine her leg. Regina motioned her to do so.

When nurse Mary Margaret began to roll Regina's pant leg up, she became confused. Regina's leg looked fine, there wasn't even a scratch on it. She gave Regina a puzzled look, before looking at her leg again.

"Well…its broken right?" Regina asked, already knowing the answer. Well…98% knowing the answer.

The petite nurse stood up harshly and looked Regina right in the eyes.

"Dr. Mills, its inappropriate to play pranks on the nurses and patients. This is a hospital, not a high school. Your leg is fine, there isn't even a bruise." The nurse was obviously angry and annoyed.

"What are you talking about!?" Regina laughed out, "The whole thing is a bruise! Ask Emma!"

The nurse looked towards Emma, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong and didn't have to have one of the new interns committed. Emma nodded in concurrence with Regina.

"Yeah I saw it earlier. That bruise is huge. I don't know how you're missing it…" Emma said to the nurse, kind of surprised that the nurse was proclaiming that there was nothing there. Maybe she needed her eyes checked.

The nurse just looked back and fourth between the two women like they were crazy, and after a moment exited the room. Regina and Emma shared a confused look, before they burst out in laughter together.

"Did you see her face?" Emma laughed out, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh my god I can't believe this!" Regina giggled.

This laughing fit had to be the best moment the two women had shared. It felt so natural, like they had been best friends for the longest time or something. They laughed together for what seemed like forever, before finally calming down.

"Wait how am I supposed to get out of here…crawl?" Regina looked at the blonde and that sent them into another laughing fit.

"I could just imagine you army crawling to the nurses station!" Emma laughed out between breaths. It felt good to laugh with Regina, just like good old times.

They're laughing fit was interrupted minutes later by two doctors in grey scrubs walking into the room. Suddenly, the atmosphere flipped. They went from laughing with each other and sharing a happy moment, to being silent and anxious. Who were these guys?

"Hello Dr. Mills. I'm Dr. Lowe, how are you this evening?"

Regina knew who he was, and she had a feeling that she knew why he was here. If she was right it was the bitch nurse Mary Margaret. She had been known to tell secrets, but this felt personal. This was Regina's career on the line.

"I know who you are. Why are you here?" Regina found herself trying to stand taller, to no avail. She had a feeling that she knew what was about to happen.

"Dr. Mills, would you mind coming with me, I want to take a look at your leg." The doctor ask calmly, trying to comfort Regina in any way he could.

"Why don't you just come look at it over here?" Regina replied. She wasn't going anywhere with this man or his friend.

The doctor reluctantly agreed and walked over to Regina. When he stepped through the door Regina caught sight of the bitch who was causing all of this drama. Mary Fucking Margaret. She looked scared…god Regina wished she could punch her. She's scared?! Regina's ass was on the line because the nurse couldn't keep a secret! Now the brunette was annoyed, and anxious all at the same time.

Dr. Lowe kneeled down when he reached Dr. Mills. He silently asked for permission to see the brunette's leg by placing his hands out, and she allowed him to examine her by carefully placing her leg into his hands. He rolled up her pant leg, and started tapping various places. Every time he tapped her leg, she cringed. Why wasn't she going for an x-ray or something, this was just wasting her time, and honestly she didn't 100% understand why he was here. Why wasn't Callie Torres, the orthopaedic surgeon, here examining her? Her leg was obviously broken…why were she and Emma the only one's who could see it?

"Regina…there seems to be nothing wrong with your leg, and I think you need to come with me for a talk." He said calmly as he stood up and held out this hand.

"What are you talking about!? You are all crazy! Its broken! Get Torres, she'll tell you!" Regina pleaded with the doctors, but to no avail.

Dr. Lowes assistant walked up to Regina, and before she could even process what he was doing, he had already shoved the needle containing a sedative in her arm. She could feel the sedative being pumped through her veins and tried to fight it. She didn't want Emma to see her this way.

"No! No! LET GO OF ME!" Regina fought as Dr. Lowe and his assistant restrained her and began to carry her out of the room. She didn't care if she was making a scene, this was messed up.

The sedative was beginning to kick in and Regina found it harder and harder to fight against the doctors. As they exited the room and began to place her on a gurney, she saw a familiar face behind the nurses station, talking with bitch nurse. It was Kathryn. As the doctors were restraining her into the gurney, she heard Kathyrn and Mary Margaret talking.

"She needs help. She's gone insane, I swear" Kathryn laughed, not knowing her friend could hear.

"She thinks her leg is broken! The damn thing is fine, honestly I think the girl in 404 is scared of her. Thats why she agreed with her." Mary Margaret replied back and laughed with Kathryn at Regina's expense.

"You….fucking…...bitch." It took Regina all of her strength to get the words out of her mouth, and even then they were quiet, but she was happy that she said them. It made her feel a bit stronger than she was in this moment. The last thing she remember was her hands and feet being bound the the gurney, and a blanket being placed on top of her to hide the fact that she was a doctor. Then, she blacked out.

She woke up to the buzzing sound of florescent lighting, a throbbing leg and a headache. As the brunette looked around the room she became confused. This wasn't anywhere that she'd seen before. Everything was white, including the scrubs she was wearing, even the plaster cast on her leg was white. HA! I told those bitches it was broken. Was this heaven? No. Heaven wouldn't have annoying buzzing lights and broken legs and headaches. It would have puppies, and Emma. Emma. Regina sat up despite her headache and panicked. Where was Emma? Was she ok? She felt her heart racing. Just when she was about to attempt to stand, she heard a door opening. She whipped her head around to see Dr. Lowe and his annoying assistant walking in with a notebook.

"What do you want from me? Why am I locked in here? Where is Emma?!" Regina's voice cracked and tears started pooling in her eyes. She was so confused and angry with everything that was happening in her life right now, and she felt oddly moody. Like she was 16 all over again.

"Regina you're awake! This is great!" Dr. Lowe and his assistant walked further into the room.

"I just want to talk to you about whats going on. The other day, Emma told me that you confided in her about feeling like you were living in two different worlds at once before everything happened, is that true?" Dr Lowe's voice was too calm. It was weird, and now, Regina hated him. Not only because his voice was calm, but because he had mixed up Kathryn, the bitch, with Emma, the god like creature.

"Look it just makes me sound crazy, I get that. It's nothing, and you know what, it's not bothering me anymore. What's bothering me is the fact that I have patients to check on and instead of being able to do that I'm being held up in here like I'm a threat to society." Regina huffed and dramatically threw her hands into the air like she always did when she was upset. She just needed to be with Emma, then somehow, everything would be ok.

"Mhmm…" Dr Lowe nodded and a crease formed in between his eyebrows. He scratched his head.

"I can see you're upset Regina, but I'm concerned about you. Were you getting enough sleep to properly function when you were with him? I know it sounds like a silly question, considering how much you've slept here, but it's important."

What was that supposed to mean? 'When you were with him' and 'How much you've slept here.' She rolled her eyes, and decided to ignore it.

"I'm a surgical intern. What even is sleep?" She sounded like a bitchy 13 year old but she didn't care, she just wanted to see Emma.

"I see." Dr. Lowe scribbled onto a piece of paper. He could see that the young girl was still in the midst of a hallucination, thinking she was a surgical intern, but realized that she needed rest before being questioned. He took out another piece of paper and scribbled on it before addressing the girl.

"Regina, in my professional opinion, you're sleep deprivation is causing you to hallucinate. I'm going to place you on a 3 week probation period. You are to stay in this hospital under my monitoring. This doesn't mean you can't go outside and hang out with your friends, it just means that you sleep here. I'm also prescribing a sleeping pill that you must take every night. And lastly, I'm prescribing a low dosage of lorazepam. If you start to feel anxious or you get the hallucinations again you are to take one full pill. Is this clear?"

Regina took a deep breath and processed what he was saying. It made sense to her. Yes she was sleep deprived. On top of that, all of this "Emma" shit was confusing as hell. It FELT like a hallucination. None of this could be real, right? People disappearing into black smoke, and suspending themselves in mid air. That stuff didn't happen in reality. She was ready to get it all over with and finally get some sleep. But the way he talked to her made her feel like she didn't know what he was saying at all.

"Yeah…yeah that makes sense. Thank you." Regina half smiled. Why was the doctor treating her like she was an adolescent? She was 26 for God's sake! She could understand him trying to comfort her, but this was taking it too far.

"Are you sure? I know you've been through a lot Regina, and I understand you not wanting to talk about it right away. I'm not going to try and make you talk either. Just relax for now, we can talk later."

He watched as relief washed over Regina. That seemed to calm her down. The thought of trying to explain herself and everything that was going through her mind scared her, but for the first time in weeks she felt sure of herself. In that moment she knew who she was, and where she was, even though the doctor seemed to treat her like she was someone else. This was reality. This was Boston, her home.

Dr. Lowe and his silent assistant gathered up their things as Regina thought to herself. Sensing that she needed to hear where she was, Dr. Lowe turned to Regina one last time before exiting the room.

"Welcome back to Storybrooke Regina. I'm so sorry about the things that you've had to go through with that man. Emma should be by soon to visit. Feel free to explore the hospital, I know everything must be new to you. If you have any questions or need to talk just ask one of the nurses to page me and I'll be right over, ok?" He waited for a minute to see Regina's reaction and then he walked out of the room, leaving the door wide open. An invitation to explore, except that was the last thing Regina wanted to do right now.

Where the hell was Storybrooke and why did the name sound so familiar? And what did he mean by 'Everything you went through with that man'? and why the hell did she have to go to a nurse to have him paged, why couldn't she page him herself?! Regina pondered everything until she saw a familiar blonde walk into the room. Her eyes widened when the girl sat down beside her, holding out a stuffed animal horse.

"I brought this from…" she trailed off, not wanting to say the words out loud. "I thought you could cuddle it or something…since I'm not in here with you. Uh..yeah. I'm glad we're ok…well I'm glad you're ok. Are you ok?" The blonde reached out to touch Regina's arm. When she did, the now familiar electrical current rant through the both of them.

"Yeah…yeah I'm ok." Regina answered and placed her hand on top of Emma's. She couldn't check now because of the cast, but she was sure if she looked at her leg there wouldn't be a tattoo of a crown on it anymore. She was back in dream world…or maybe, just maybe…reality world. The young girls sat together in silence for a moment before Emma stood up.

"I have to go…My new foster Mom's outside.." Emma began to choke up. "I'll see you around." Regina watched as the blonde turned around and left, and instantly felt sad. She wanted to help this girl, but in order to do that she had to help herself; by figuring out what reality was real, and which one was just a dream.

**Let me know what you think :) Sorry this chapter is so confusing, I just don't know how to put my thoughts into words!** **Like I said, everything will come together in the next chapter, which will be out within the next 24 hours!:)**


	5. Chapter 5

"So let me get this straight," Regina said, not grasping anything the psychologist was trying to tell her.

"I'm 16, this is Storybrooke, Mr. Gold fostered me and Emma, he became abusive so I made up a dream reality where I was independent and confident, and in control?" It was more of a question than a statement. Hell this was confusing.

"Correct. You've made a lot of progress Regina." The doctor smiled, glad to know the girl was coming along.

It had been 1 week exactly since Regina had had a...hallucination. Although, she wasn't quite comfortable admitting that that's all they were yet. Everything felt so real. The way her and Kathryn (an alleged dreamed up version of Emma) laughed and got along, and the way she would get annoyed by her boss. It was all so real. One thing that was strange that doctor Lowe had pointed out, was that Regina had no solid memories of before she was an intern. She remembered working and being an intern...but nothing before that. He said it was common, and Regina understood, but she was still in shock from it all. None of it was real. She had been in a sleep deprived "coma" for 2 days, and that's all it took to create this weird and crazy...thing. That was it. It certainly felt like more than two days. It felt like years had gone by in dream reality world. Regina couldn't grasp it.

"Regina I know it's a lot to take in. It's going to take time to heal and understand...and accept. That's why I'm here. I'm going to make this transition as easy as I can for you, but I do need your help in order to make that possible." Dr Lowe smiled, and Regina smiled back.

"Yeah...I know. I..just-why do I still know how to calculate dosages and administer IV's? If it was a dream...well, why wouldn't I forget?" Regina asked, looking down and playing at a loose thread from her casted leg.

"That's a good question Regina, and honestly, it could be from a number of things. I believe it's from hearing the nurses and doctors who cared for you, while you were asleep. You heard them say things, so you dreamt of those things." The doctor looked around for a minute before grabbing an IV kit.

"Let's see if you really know how to do the medical stuff...or if it's just that you think you do. Put an IV in my arm. If this is going to help you, then it's worth it." He handed her the kit.

Well shit, Regina thought to herself. She quickly opened all the supplies she needed and put on a pair of gloves, her hands were shaking from the nerves.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You have to try. If this helps you I'm ok with a little prick in my arm."

Regina hesitated. She wasn't sure if she was ready to do this yet. A moment of silence and tension passed.

"Fine." She whispered.

And with that, Regina was off -at least that's what she thought. It took her 15 minutes to set up the IV drip and needles incorrectly, and several tries to put the IV in, to no prevail. Dr. Lowe even explained the steps to her as she tried, but nothing worked.

"I give up!" She threw her hands in the air in that dramatic way she always did. This was it, Dr. Lowe had to be right...all of those "memories" we're just a dream.

"Regina, this is a good thing. It means that this transition back into reality is going to be easier for you." Dr. Lowe explained, trying to comfort the girl. Another moment of silence passed before Regina spoke up.

"Why...why would.." She couldn't finish her sentence as shame grew over her like a cloud, but Dr. Lowe knew what she was asking.

"I don't know Regina. When Mrs. Gold passed, it was hard on him. I don't know why he took that out on you...but he did. I'm just glad you're safe." He smiled and placed a hand over top of Regina's.

"Dr. Lowe...I know I'm going to sound insane if I ask..but" she hesitated before clearing her voice and speaking up.

"Is Magic a real thing here? Or was that my crazy coma mind..."

Dr. Lowe chuckled and stood up.

"Why don't you ask Emma that one."

"But Emma isn't-!" She tried to tell out but dr. Lowe had already left the small room.

"Here." She said to herself.

What just happened? What was that supposed to mean? Go ask Emma? Emma hadn't even visited her since the first day she was..."back". Regina closed her eyes and thought of Emma's soft hair, and her beautiful green eyes. As she was thinking she felt a gradual tug of electricity. It grew stronger until she finally stood up.

"What the hell..." She said and grabbed at her chest.

The tug pulled her towards the door, it was surreal. Like a different force was trying to lead her somewhere -and somehow connect the two girls. Before she knew it she was walking down the hallway and being steered in different directions by the force. She got to the hospital doors before she finally willed it to stop.

"No I can't..." She whispered to herself.

She had never been out of this hospital...and all her memories of this place were foggy. How would she even know where to go! As she was thinking the electrical tug came back, and boy was it strong this time. It practically pulled her out of the hospital doors and towards a small park a few blocks away. That's when she saw her, the small blonde with the green eyes. She was running towards Regina, and Regina found herself running towards Emma. They finally connected and a wave of electrical current ran through the both of them.

"Emma I.."

"Regina I'm sorry."

Regina smiled. It was so good to hear the blondes voice.

"I...I'm starting to remember things."

"That's good Regina! Anything in particular?" Emma looked at Regina with hopeful eyes. Maybe, just maybe, Regina would remember what they had together.

"Emma...is magic real?" Regina whispered and ran her hands over Emma's arms.

"Are you...? Yes Regina! That's why Gold had those cuffs on us. It stopped our magic." Regina analyzed Emma for a moment.

"Our...magic?" Emma sighed. Here it comes.

"Regina..me and you...we- we have a special type of connection. That electrical current feeling, it's magic. It...binds us. Gold taught us magic at first, but together we were stronger than him, and he didn't like that so much..." Emma trailed off.

"So...it's real? Magic?"

"Yes Regina...here I'll prove it."

Emma walked a few paces away from Regina and a small fireball appeared in her hand. Regina was amazed, and that electric tug pulled her towards Emma. She walked closer to Emma, and touched her arm. The fire grew 4 times its size.

"WOAH!" Regina jumped back and the fire went out.

"We did that?!" Emma smiled, she loved it when Regina was confused, it didn't happen often but she was like a little puppy.

"Yes Regina..we did." She chuckled. This was going to be an interesting journey for the both of them.

"Do it again! I feel so alive right now!" Regina laughed out and threw her hand into the air. When she did so, a show of fireworks displayed above them and Regina laughed. This, whatever it was, felt real. This was right, and this was who she was. Sixteen and magical. This was reality, and Regina wasn't letting it go anytime soon.

SORRY IF THIS SUCKUS I WROTE IT ON MY PHONE ON A TRAIN RIDE. PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS AND LET ME KNOW HOW THE STORY IS GOING! THANKS!


	6. Chapter 6

**Once again I wrote this on a two hour train ride, so I didn't really edit it or proofread it, I just kind of wrote what I thought. The next chapter will be a bit darker, and I'll have it out by next week 3 LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!**

Emma and Regina had spent the day wondering around Storybrooke, and Regina was starting to recognize different areas of the small town.

"Granny's! They have the best grilled cheese!" Regina laughed out. This day was really exciting for her.

"Regina you hate grilled cheese!" Emma spat out, she was shocked the girl had even mentioned them. She always taunted Emma for 'eating like a three year old' when she had them.

"What are you talking about! Grilled cheese is amazing!" Regina smiled and grabbed Emma's hand.

The brunette pulled the small blonde into the quaint diner and ran to the counter. After a few moments a familiar teen walked up to them.

"Regina! Emma! I'm so glad you two are doing ok!" The teenager smiled at both of them, but then shot Emma a questioning glance. Emma, knowing what she was silently asking, shook her head no. Regina didn't think much of it, for all she knew they were silently talking about food. The teenager frowned and sent an apologetic look to Emma, who smiled. Ok now that...that was Weird.

"We'll have two grilled cheeses. Emphasis on the two."

"Two? Wow you must be hungry." The teen turned her attention towards the brunette.

"Regina?" She held her pad of paper and pen at the ready to take the girls order.

The blonde coughed; and the teen looked towards her.

"Ruby...Regina loves grilled cheese. Well she thinks she does. So two as in one for me one for her!" Emma giggled, knowing all too well that they would be back at this counter again soon ordering a salad for Regina.

"Oh...oh wow! Regina! Did you injure your head?!" Ruby laughed.

"No, uh..." She stole a glance at the teens name tag quickly, "Ruby. I didn't, but I guess I found a new love for grilled cheese!" Regina awkwardly smiled.

She had never been the awkward type but this felt wayyy to weird for her comfort zone. She had only been out of the hospital for 2 hours and people were acting like it was a miracle she was alive. If she were being honest with herself, she only remembered bits and pieces of everything. She recognized Ruby and remembered bits and pieces of her, but she certainly wasn't ready to be social with the girl, or with anyone for that matter. She grabbed Emma's hand and entangled their fingers, and a small trickle of electricity ran up both the girl's arms, but they were getting used to it. In fact, Regina found comfort in it.

"Ok! Well two grilled cheeses coming up love's!" Ruby winked and walked away.

Loves? What was that about? Regina pondered for a minute before she felt her arm being tugged, by Emma, towards a booth for them to eat at. Once they sat down on opposite sides of the booth, they reached across the table and entangled their fingers again. It felt like déjàvu, and like they had done this hundreds of times before, but something was different. She couldn't put her finger on it.

"Regina...there's something I haven't told you that I need to tell you. Please don't hate me or freak out or anything..." Emma looked down. She looked ashamed, but Regina didn't know why. She could tell her anything and Regina would still love her no matter what. **_Wait love? Did I really just think that? Love? No..no its not love. It's just...well...like...a little bit of love, right?_**

"Yeah Emma what's up? You can tell me anything." Regina squeezed the blondes hand to re-assure her.

"It's just...you and me. I didn't tell you about this..but uh...well...we were kind of like...dating?" Emma blushed and bowed her head even more. The words had come out so fast that Regina barley heard them.

Emma knew they were technically 'foster sisters', they had talked about that several times. But they had a special bond that neither of them could explain. After a moment of silence, Regina spoke.

"We were? But we're foster sisters..." Regina blushed. It's not like she couldn't understand it, Emma was beautiful and they had some weird electrical thingy whenever they were near each other...but they were technically sisters.

"I know. I...just" Emma let out a deep breath, "let me explain from the beginning."

"Ok." Regina smiled and leaned towards Emma. She wanted to hear this, maybe it would trigger memories.

"We were both really young, about 8, when we met at the foster home. We instantly became best friends and I started to fall for you...and I'm pretty sure you fell for me too. Anyways, we were best friends for years, and when we were 14 we decided to move things to the next level. Aka, we kissed once." Emma and Regina both laughed. What a typical 14 year old romance.

"Anyways, when we were 15, Gold decided to foster the both of us, and that's when things actually started to get serious. We would go on dates every Friday night, and our magic started to grow stronger. That's when uh-gold well...he put those stupid cuffs on us, and then Mrs. Gold died. And then things went down-hill from there. You started to have dreams of being a doctor when we were left in the basement for a couple days...I think it was from not eating and not using magic...and you were also sleep deprived because one of us always had to stay awake just incase Gold came downstairs. And now we're here." Emma half smiled. She needed this girls approval and she was scared that she wasn't going to get it.

All of this information hit Regina like a truck. Memories of the two girls came back to her, but memories of Gold did as well. She untangled her and Emma's hands and began to awkwardly play with the loose string from her leg cast.

"We were in that basement for 5 months. I remember we counted. Five fucking months. And he only fed us once a day if we were lucky." Regina went pale at the thoughts and emotions that re-surfaced.

She felt Emma squeeze her hand under the table to comfort her and it worked. She stopped playing with the string on her cast and looked up at the girl across from her. She started to think of the blonde, and with those thoughts came emotions. She really did love this girl.

"Emma...I..I remember. I remember us...and those stupid dates we would have in the basement where we would save up food from the week and pig out on Fridays." Regina chocked on her tears and laughed. These were both good memories and bad, and she could see Emma starting to tear up as well.

"Yeah babe we would. And we would put out our blanket and have picnics and look up at the ceiling and pretend we saw stars." Emma smiled. She was so happy that Regina remembered, even if it was just a small part, she remembered.

Their moment was inturupted by Ruby, who was bringing them their fresh grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Hot and fresh for my two favourite girls! Here Regina I even brought you a side salad and Emma I brought you a side of fries. Enjoy girls!" Ruby winked and after putting everything in front of the girls she walked away.

"This looks amazing!" Emma squealed and dove into her food. She looked up to Regina who looked confused.

"Babe what's up?" _**Woah Emma slow down, you've already called her babe twice. **_

"This thing," she poked at the grilled cheese sandwich, "this isn't a grilled cheese! I have no clue what it is but it looks nasty." She frowned at Emma, and it was adorable.

"Regina yes it is. What do you think a grilled cheese is?" Emma smiled.

"We'll certainly not this! I thought it was a wrap and it has salad and chicken in it, and they always grill it and put cheese in mine. Mmmmm..." Regina wondered off into dream world.

"Ha! That's called a chicken ceased wrap and, I think you're in fantasy land again, because here, this is a grilled cheese. I can order a wrap for you if you want!" Emma smiled and then winked. "I'll eat your grilled cheese!" Regina almost spat out the water she had just taken a sip of. Her mind was more...developed than Emma's...and even if Emma didn't realize it, that last sentence was dirty as hell.

"Yeah ok!" Regina smirked, and Emma, being Emma, stepped away for a minute, the whole conversation going over her head.

'I'll eat your grilled cheese'. Regina laughed. Surely Emma didn't realize that what she said sounded...well, a little dirty. Although maybe it didn't and Regina's mind was just dirty. Or maybe Emma was one of those cute naive little girls...Regina certainly wasn't. At least not anymore. She couldn't remember what she was like when she was with Gold. She remembered the basement, and Emma...but not herself. She was startled when Emma broke her silent thoughts.

"Here you go." Emma smiled and kissed Regina on the cheek.

It was out of habit to peck her girlfriend, well...kind of ex-girlfriend, on the cheek, but she instantly regretted doing it. This girl wasn't her girlfriend...she was just a girl who looked like Regina. She was a shell of her, lacking all of the memories they had shared.

"I'm so sorry...I just...I'm so so sorry. It's just a habit, but it will never happen again. I'm sorry." She quickly sat down at her side of the booth.

"Sorry for what? Kissing my cheek? Oh dear it's fine!" Regina smiled and picked up her wrap. Now this was a grilled cheese.

"Oh...so you're ok with that?"

"Emma...we're dating of course I am." Regina winked. It felt good to feel like herself again, whatever that meant.

"Oh yeah...well of course then." Emma blushed. She grabbed one of her grilled cheeses and took a big ass bite out of it. Regina giggled as she picked at her wrap. She loved how Emma could be so tiny yet she ate like a horse. A horse.

"Why a horse?" Regina looked Emma dead in the eyes, assuming she understood what she was asking.

"Why not a horse...?" Emma counteracted, confused by the question.

"I had a stuffed animal, it was a horse. Why a horse?" Regina frowned. She felt like she was so out of the loop, but like it was something she knew. It was hard to explain.

"Oh." Emma finished swallowing her food before she tried to speak again.

"Well, you used to ride horses before you ended up in the foster care system. I got that for you for your 10th birthday. I saved up for such a long time. You returned the favour though, you got me that teddy bear." Emma smiled, but then got the best, and worst idea of her life.

"Regina would it help your memory process if we went to the basement?"

And it was out in the open before she could even think about it. Fuck.

"Emma...I don't know about that. I still have a broken leg, and I have to abide by hospital protocol, which means my curfew is in 45 minutes." Regina frowned. She hated letting down the blonde, but she knew she had to get better before she would be ready to deal with the psychological pain to come.

"No forget about it, it was stupid to ask I'm sorry." Emma shook her head.

"Well...what if we go next week. My cast should be off by then, and I might be discharged by then." Regina smiled and the suddenly her leg felt lighter. She gasped and looked down at it. No more cast. She looked up to Emma who was smirking and holding her little magical hand up.

"You're sneaky." Regina returned her smirk, but a few moments later both girls were dying from fits of laughter. 10 minutes had gone by and they were still laughing, but it was good; Regina needed to feel like a teenager again, and Emma needed to feel like ifs made sense again.

They stayed at the diner for 5 more minutes before finally deciding to leave and walk back to the hospital. Emma promised she would start to teach Regina some magic again once she was released from the hospital, and Regina was excited like no one could describe for that.

It was hard to explain, but both of the girls had this bond like no other. Not just romantically, or friendship wise...they had survived something horrible together. They would be in each other's lives forever, whether they wanted to or not. It was kind of like fate wanted them to be together. Emma was just happy that after everything had happened, and Regina went into a coma, that she knew that true loves kiss would work to wake her up...and boy did it ever.

**Pretty bad I know, but I'll actually proofread my next chapter before posting it ;) **


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